First Frost
by Ceasefire
Summary: [Roy x Riza fluff] Roy and Riza are required to work on the National Winter Holiday, but Riza is ill. Roy remedies the problem and discovers that working on holidays may not be so bad.


Written for the Winter Gathering Challenge on the Royai Fiction community. I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist.

* * *

The Nation Winter Holiday in Amestris took place on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month; a time when the first snow frequently fell on Central. It was a national holiday for the entirety of the country, and people often got together with their families and friends to celebrate the coming of winter.

It was also one of the few days in the year that Roy Mustang hated being the supervisor of East HQ.

As the highest-ranking officer at the outpost, he was required to work on the holiday in order to catch up on paperwork and keep an eye on the building, so to speak. Personally, Mustang doubted that even terrorist groups were made to work through this special day, but he had managed to keep his mouth shut when the order had come through from the Fuhrer's office in Central. This usually made for a lonely holiday for him, as none of his family or close friends lived in the East. Thankfully, his adjutant Second Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye had promised she would come to keep him company for the latter half of the day, after she'd been to visit her grandparents for lunch; if nothing she was able to keep him focused on what he had to do, with her quiet yet watchful approach to her job. However this year was apparently going to differ from the norm, because instead of Hawkeye slipping in with barely a sound past the click of the doorhandle, she slipped into his office with a decidedly chesty cough and a soft groan as she massaged her temples with her fingertips.

"Something wrong, Lieutenant?" he inquired, not looking up from his paperwork.

"Nothing, Sir!" she replied sharply, before walking quickly over to her desk and sitting down.

"It doesn't sound like nothing," Mustang smirked, signing on the dotted line of the paper that was currently in front of him, and Hawkeye sighed.

"I just have a cold, Sir. Nothing to be too concerned about."

"From the sound of it, you should at least have something to help the symptoms. Can't have you unfocused and not working, can we?"

Riza's eyes narrowed and she tucked a loose strand of her short hair behind her ear. "That's rich coming from you, Lieutenant Colonel."

"Oh Hawkeye, you hurt my feelings!" he said, waving his left hand about in the air dramatically, before looking her in the eyes and grinning. "I have a remedy that may well do you some good."

She didn't reply for a moment and began scrutinizing her hands, obviously weighing the option. "What sort of remedy? If you're going to steal from the Med Department I won't have any part in it..."

"Nothing like that, Hawkeye! What do you take me for?" Mustang asked, before seeing the sarcastic look on her face. "Fine, fine... I was planning to grab you a little something from Mess but if you're really that concerned about me stealing from HQ, you can come and make sure I take no more than I need."

His adjutant sighed, and stood up as Mustang finished signing his name on another paper with an over-zealous scrawl. "Fine, Sir. Permission to accompany you to Mess?"

"Granted, Lieutenant. Let's be on our way."

As they were on the way to Mess, Roy thought back to his childhood; his mother, Xian Lin had been of Xingese decent and was skilled with the art of _Rentanjutsu_, as the natives of the country called it. She'd been able to mend all the cuts, bruises and broken bones he and his sisters would inflict upon themselves while playing, but she had always said that if something was able to be remedied without alchemy, that was the way to do it. Thus, throughout his early days he'd been unintentionally taught many of the little healing tricks his mother had picked up back in her own country. The one he was about to use on his Lieutenant was a lot simpler than healing a gunshot wound or anything of the like, thank goodness.

They reached Mess, and he opened the door and stood aside to let her through.

"Ladies first."

"Go ahead, Sir."

"Very funny," Roy grumbled as Riza strode through the door, her head held high. He shut the door behind himself and watched as his Second Lieutenant reclined against one of the large, stainless steel kitchen benches used to prepare food for the entire base.

"So, what are you planning to feed me, Sir?"

"Patience, Lieutenant; I've got to find it first..." Roy murmured, going head-down-bottom-up into the first cupboard. After a few minutes of searching, he exclaimed in triumph and came out of the cupboard with a dusty jar of honey in his grasp.

"Honey, Sir?"

"Indeed. It coats the throat and reduces a little of the pain when you cough."

The Second Lieutenant looked cynical, and Roy laughed. "Trust me; it _would_ work better with a little lemon, but they don't leave perishables here over the holiday period. Oh, by the way; can you have a look in a few of these drawers for a tablespoon?"

"Of course," she replied, and the two of them dug around in the kitchen until Roy happened upon a spoon. Riza stood up straight and coughed into her palm.

"Just in time," Roy smirked, grabbing the glass bottle of honey and unscrewing the lid. He poured some of the oozing golden liquid onto the spoon and left it on the metal bench top, He then grabbed Hawkeye's shoulders and directed her backwards, towards the bench until she was sitting on top of it.

"Open wide, Lieutenant!" he exclaimed, waving the spoon in front of her. She sighed and opened her mouth, and he slowly slid the spoon past her lips. She swallowed the honey and let him take the spoon away and put it near the sink.

"Feel better?" he grinned, and Hawkeye nodded as the smooth substance coated her throat. "Well then, I think it's time to give you your gift!"

"Gift?" Riza began to silently will the colour away from her cheeks. "Sir- I'm sorry! I didn't know you'd bought me anything, I don't have anything to-"

"It was my intention to keep it secret, and I expect nothing in return," Roy grinned, reaching into his pocket and retrieving a gift, wrapped in paper decorated with mistletoe and holly patterns, "Happy Holidays."

She accepted the packet uncertainly, and slowly unwrapped the paper to reveal a simple brown hair clip.

"I always thought you might look good with longer hair," her superior officer said, looking sheepish, "And I thought perhaps this might be the incentive."

"Thank you, Sir!" she said, shifting the simple accessory between her fingers. Roy smirked, obviously pleased with himself.

"It was my pleasure, Lieutenant. Now, I believe I only have a few more papers until I'm done for the day. You may leave early if you wish"

He turned to leave, and Riza watched him go, her mind totally blank. A thought suddenly dawned on her and she called after him.

"Colonel Mustang!"

Roy paused and looked back at his adjutant.

"Colonel, I'm going to go home after this and have a warm dinner... if you wish, would you like to accompany me?"

Mustang seemed momentarily stunned, but quickly recovered and nodded. "I'd love to, Lieutenant."

This was turning out to be a good Winter Holiday after all.

**END**


End file.
